Bugs and Mushrooms, Summer of course!
Possibly my favourite mushroom/fungi;) Dead Man’s Fingers-Xylaria polymorpha…how cool is that? Like two hands reaching out of the leaves…”I know NOTHING!” It’s been a slow start to the fungi but it’s coming! How about some Dog Sick Slime Mould-Didymium spongiosum…WTF??? Ha!
Due to its visual resemblance to canine vomit, it is known colloquially as the “dog sick slime mould” or “dog sick fungus”, albeit that slime moulds are not true fungi.
It never ceases to amaze me what you can find walking along a road:) So far the deer flies have not been bad, that may change very soon with much warmer temperatures forecast! I’m trying to keep the bones moving before I seize up! I caiught a splash of colour in the shade and ventured off to investigate! American Yellow Fly Agaric-Amanita muscaria guessowii (?) I think. So yellow!
..and the bugs! Both the biting, crawling and flying kind. I saw a juvenile meadowhawk dragonfly dangling from a flower and went to investigate!
Ok, that is quite the meal Goldenrod Crab Spider! Hang onto it! “Now that I’ve got him…what to do with him?”
24 hours later the crab spider was still figuring out what to do with this catch I think! Mike had a visitor on the car as well:) go figure, a spider alfista;) a Whitman’s Jumping Spider! Yes, they DO jump!
Along the road the dragonflies seem to come and go in batches. Maybe based on food sources, or temperatures! I love the Widow Skimmers, so beautiful!
It seems this year we have seen a lot of Chalk Fronted Corporals on the road but the rest of the gang are catching up!
So much variety! How many mosquitos do these guys eat I wonder?!
…and the camouflage! Hiding in plain sight! I saw it move but it took me awhile to find it afterwards! Canada Darner.
More bugs than birds these days!
Ok, it may be just a bug blog, birds and flowers tomorrow! What about the butterflies and moths?!
It never ceases to amaze me what you can find if you look…more bugs!
Then there are the damselflies as well! Can’t forget them! Check out those greens and blues!
Ok, just a few more critters from the road:) I saw a beautiful Ribbon snake but it was much faster than I was, the Northern Water Snake smiled for me, and two very different coloured Northen Leopard Frogs:)
Enough, we’ll get caught up for June and it’s birds and babies soon! But wait! One more Crab Spider. I thought finding one in the back yard perched on his daisy was cool but I found ANOTHER one eating a different dragonfly on a Milkweed seed head, a Whiteface, by the swamp! Just wild! Saludos amigos, hopefully we all eat as well as these guys! Talk about a buffet! I wonder what dragonfly tasted like? BBQ or smoked? Ha!
